Oil flow suppression attachment for internal combustion engines

ABSTRACT

An oil flow suppression attachment for internal combustion engines to be secured to the engine in place of the valve cover when the valve cover is removed for the purpose of adjusting the valve, the attachment being in the form of a frame having a base flange secured to the head of the engine and an upstanding wall which circumscribes a portion of the upper surface of the head whereby to retain therewithin oil which flows into said area during the adjustment of the valves when the engine is running. The frame carries a plurality of fingers which can be selectively disposed in overlying relation ship to oil orifices whereby to suppress the stream of oil normally entering the area through the orifices.

United States Patent Stanley A. Blvins 3429 Paseo, Kansas City, Mo. 64109 817,052

Apr. 17 1969 Mar. 9, 1971 Inventor Appl. No. Filed Patented OIL FLOW SUPPRESSION ATTACHMENT FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES 8 Claims, 4 Drawing Figs.

U.S. Cl 184/6, l23/90,123/195,123/196 Int. Cl. ..F0lm 11/00 Field ofSearch l84/1,6,6 (J), 13; 123/90(L2), 195 (C), 193 (H), 198 (E) References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 5/1925 Link I. 184/(6UX) 2,426,438 8/1947 DePew 123/90 2,877,756 3/1959 McCauley et al.. l23/90UX 3,063,439 11/1962 Kessel 123/195 Primary ExaminerManuel A. Antonakas Attorney-Schmidt, Johnson, I-lovey, Williams & Chase ABSTRACT: An oil flow suppression attachment for internal combustion engines to be secured to the engine in place of the valve cover when the valve cover is removed for the purpose of adjusting the valve, the attachment being in the form of a frame having a base flange secured to the head of the engine and an upstanding wall which circumscribes a portion of the upper surface of the head whereby to retain therewithin oil which flows into said area during the adjustment of the valves when the engine is running. The frame carries a plurality of I fingers which can be selectively disposed in overlying relation ship to oil orifices whereby to suppress the stream of oil normally entering the area through the orifices.

01L FLOW SUPPRESSION ATTACHMENT FOR KNTERNAL QOMBUSTION ENGINES it is the most important object of this invention to provide an attachment for internal combustion engines which can be secured thereto when the valves of the engine are being adjusted to retain oil which is delivered into the valve area of the engine when the engine is operated and thereby eliminate the smoking which normally occurs when the valves of the engine are adjusted with the engine running.

it is a further object of this invention to provide an at- Y tachment for internal combustion engines including a frame, the frame carrying a plurality of fingers which are selectively shiftable into overlying engagement with oil delivery orifices whereby the stream of oil normally emanating therefrom under pressure may be suppressed and the oil caused to flow into the area circumscribed by the frame and to thereafter be retained therein and prevented from flowing to other portions of the engine whereby to soil said portions or cause smoke through contact with hot portions of the engine.

Another important object of this invention is the provision of a universally adaptable frame which can be attached to any internal combustion engine in place'of the valve cover when the valve cover is removed for purposes of adjusting the valves of the engine, the universal frame having a base flange which is provided with suitable apertures whereby the same may be attached to the upper surface of the head of virtually any internal combustion engine; the frame also having an upstanding wall carried by the base flange, which wall circumscribes that area of the head normally covered by the valve cover, the wall having a number of adjustment slots formed therein whereby the overall length and width of the suppression attachment may be adjusted to thereby accommodate the same to any size or type of internal combustion engine.

Other objects will become apparent from the following specification and accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary plan view of the upper surface of the head of an internal combustion engine showing the attachment secured thereto, the valve cover being removed;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

MG. 3 is' a perspective view of the oil flow suppression attachment; and

FIG. 4 isa sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 3.

The oil flow suppression attachment is adapted for use with an internal combustion engine 12, which engine is conventional in general character in that it includes a block 14 having a head 16 disposed thereabove, the head 16 having an internal surface 18 and a normally outermost, upper surface 26, the upper surface 20 presenting a rim 22 which is of the desired configuration, depending upon the particular nature of the internal combustion engine, whereby to receive a valve cover (not shown), the valve cover being seated on the rim 22 and enclosing, in cooperation with surface 20, the valve structure 24 of the engine 12.

Valve structure 24 in the form of internal combustion engine 112 chosen for purposes of illustration includes a rocker arm 26, the rocker arm 26 being secured to surface 20 as by a support 28 which carries a post 36, the rocker arm 26 being secured to said post 30 as by a suitable nut and washer assembly 32 whereby the rocker arm may fulcrum about said post 36.

The swinging of the rocker arm 26 is achieved in a conventional manner through a hollow pushrod 34 which is coupled with driving means of the engine 12, the pushrod 34 engaging rocker arm 26 in a seat 36, the passageway (not shown) which is defined by pushrod 34 being in communication with a hole 36 formed in the rocker arm 26 whereby oil, for lubrication purposes, may be delivered into the area normally enclosed by the valve cover to thereby continuously lubricate valve assembly 24 when the engine 12 is operated.

Further conventional components of the valve assembly 24 include a return spring 44) which engages the end of rocker arm 26 opposite to that engaged by pushrod 34 whereby to return rocker arm 26 subsequent to the compression of spring 46 and once pressure thereupon by pushrod 34 has been released.

The attachment 10 is particularly intended for use with an internal combustion engine such as 12 when it is desired to adjust the valves of the engine with the engine running as is preferable. It is apparent that when the valve cover is removed and the engine operated, lubricating oil will be continuously delivered to the valve assembly 24 through hole 38, such oil running down the side of the engine and soiling the same and also coming into contact with heated components such as the manifold for instance, whereby to create a cloud of smoke which is continuously emanating from the engine area, making it extremely difficult to accurately adjust the valves.

Accordingly, the attachment 10 is intended to be secured to the upper surface 20 of head 16 of the engine 12 after the valve cover has been removed and attachment 10 circumscribes that portion of surface 20 which is normally covered by the valve cover whereby to retain within said area oil which is delivered to the valve assemblies 'when the engine is operated without the valve cover.

The attachment 10 has a frame 42 polygonal in nature whereby to present a pair of opposed ends 44 and 46, a normally front wall 48, and a normally rear wall 50, the ends and the walls cooperating to define a continuous, upstanding circumscribing wall 52 for the frame 42; the overall length and width of the frame 42 being adjustable whereby the frame 42 may be accommodated to virtually any type of engine.

In order to secure the attachment 10 to an internal combustion engine, the wall 52 and its components are provided with a base flange 54 which lies in a substantially horizontal plane and in perpendicular relationship to the wall 52, the base flange having a plurality of elongated apertures 56 therein whereby, upon shifting of the components of frame 42,

said apertures may be selectively aligned to permit the base flange 54 to complement rim 22 and thence be secured thereto as by bolts 58.

The front wall 48 and rear wall 50 are longitudinally shiftable whereby to permit adjustment of the length of the frame 42 and likewise ends 44 and 46 are longitudinally adjustable whereby to permit adjustment of the width of the frame 42. Such longitudinal adjustment of the front wall 48 and rear wall 50 is permitted by the provision of aligned slots 60, there being an outermost slot 60 formed in an L-shaped member 62 which forms a portion of end 46 and front wall 48 and an aligned, elongated slot 60 formed in a second L-shaped member 64 which forms a portion of front wall 48 and also of end 44.

As is apparent from the drawing, the slots 60 in L-shaped members 62 and 64 are in aligned relationship, the members being secured together as by bolts 66 which extend through aligned slots 60.

The construction of the rear wall 50 is identical in that said rear wall is comprised of a first, L-shaped member 68 which forms a portion of rear wall 50 and also end 44, and a second, L-shaped member 70 which forms a portion of rear wall 50 and of end 46, said members 68 and 70 each having a slot 72 formed therein, the slots 72 being aligned and receiving bolts such as 74.

The shorter legs of the members 62, 64, 68 and 70 cooperate to define the ends 44 and 46 respectively, and each of said legs has therein an elongated slot such as 76, the slots in said ends being aligned and having bolts such as 78 passing therethrough whereby the width of the frame 42 may be regulated.

It is apparent from the foregoing that frame 42 is universal in nature inasmuch as the members which serve to comprise the same are all shiftable with respect to one another whereby the length of the frame may be regulated as by shifting said members and then tightening bolts such as 66 and 74; the width of the frame 42 likewise being adjustable as by shifting those portions constituting ends 44 and 46 and thence tightening bolts 78 to retain said ends in the desired position.

It is also apparent that, if desired, only half of frame 42 may be utilized, this normally being the front half thereof including front wall 48 and ends 44 and 46 so that the oil delivered into the valve assemblies 24 and which normally flows downwardly on the surface 20, will be caught or dammed by front wall 48 and thereby prevent the same from reaching the other areas of the engine and thus causing the emission of smoke.

Thus, the frame 42 may be utilized in the form illustrated or, as noted, a half portion thereof may be used. Because of the downward flow of oil along surface 20 and the necessity of adjusting frame 42 to accommodate the same to a particular internal combustion engine such as 12, there is provided a sealing strip such as 80 which is intended to be disposed beneath base flange 54 in that portion thereof which is left open by virtue of the longitudinal adjustment of the franie components. Thus, the lowermost face of base flange 54 is made continuous and it will also be appreciated that a gasket may be interposed between said lower face and the rim 22 whereby to even more tightly seal the attachment to rim 22 and therefore, to surface 20 to prevent leakage of oil from the area circumscribed by the frame 42.

Yet another problem in adjusting the valves of an engine with the engine running is the fact that oil, for lubrication purposes, is continuously delivered through hole 38, such oil being delivered under pressure and passing from hole 38 in a stream which not only can liberally spray the adjuster of the engine with oil, but also serves to throw oil over a rather large area about the engine and the automobile. In order to suppress the flow of oil under pressure from holes 38, the frame 42 may be provided with a plurality of fingers 82, the fingers being carried by the upper edge 84 of the rear wall 50 and being longitudinally slidable therealong whereby the fingers may be positioned into overlying relationship with corresponding holes 38.

The fingers 82 are identical and each consist of a strip of material having U-shaped portion 86 which embraces rear wall 50 and, more particularly, upper edge 84 thereof and is fixed with respect to said rear wall 50 by means of a setscrew 88, the remainder of the strip which defines fingers 82 being inclined inwardly and downwardly from the edge 84 of rear wall 50, the fingers 82 extending toward the front wall 48 and being generally concave in configuration whereby to present a hood portion 90 which directly overlies the holes 38 and suppresses oil emanating therefrom, causing the same to flow downwardly toward corresponding rocker arms 26 and thence to be retained by frame 42 within the area circumscribed thereby. It will be appreciated that any number of fingers such as 82 may be provided and that either a single or additional fingers may be utilized for each of the holes 38, depending upon the nature and extent of oil flow inwardly therethrough.

Thus, the attachment is universal in nature and may be utilized, either in whole or in part, when the valve cover of an internal combustion engine is removed, the frame 42 of the attachment 10 being readily adjustable in size whereby to accommodate the same to any internal combustion engine, the frame being quickly attachable to the engine through the utilization of rim 22 which is conventionally provided, as are bolts 58, the utilization of the attachment l0 permitting adjus'tment of the valves of the engine while the engine is running and minimizing the problems which would otherwise be caused by virtue of the running of the engine and the delivery of oil into the area normally covered by the valve cover.

I claim:

1. An oil flow suppression attachment for internal combustion engines adapted to be secured to the upper surface of the head of the engine in place of the valve cover when the valve cover is removed, said attachment comprising:

a frame;

a base flange carried by said frame and secured to said upper surface; and

an upstanding wall carried by said base flange and at least partially circumscribing said upper surface, the upper end of said frame being open whereby to permit access to the valves of the engine for adjustment said engine having orifices for delivering oil into the area of said upper surface circumscribed by said wall, there being a plurality of fingers carried by said wall and shiftable with respect thereto into overlying relau'qnshi with correspondipfilorifices. 2. An oil flow suppression a tachment as set fo in claim 1,

said flange and said wall cooperating with said upper surface to retain oil delivered into said area within the confines of said frame.

3. An oil flow suppression attachment as set forth in claim 2, said frame having a front wall, a rear wall and a pair of opposed end walls, said walls cooperating to completely circumscribe the area of the upper surface of the head normally within said valve cover.

4. An oil flow suppression attachment as set forth in claim 2, said front and rear walls being shiftable with respect to one another.

5. An oil flow suppression attachment as set forth in claim 4, said end walls being shiftable with respect to one another.

6. An oil flow suppression attachment as set forth in claim 5, said fingers being carried by said rear wall and extending toward said front wall.

7. An oil flow suppression attachment as set forth in claim 6, said fingers being inclined downwardly from said rear wall toward said front wall.

8. An oil flow suppression attachment as set forth in claim 7, there being sealing means positioned between said base flange and the upper surface of the head. 

1. An oil flow suppression attachment for internal combustion engines adapted to be secured to the upper surface of the head of the engine in place of the valve cover when the valve cover is removed, said attachment comprising: a frame; a base flange carried by said frame and secured to said upper surface; and an upstanding wall carried by said base flange and at least partially circumscribing said upper surface, the upper end of said frame being open whereby to permit access to the valves of the engine for adjustment said engine having orifices for delivering oil into the area of said upper surface circumscribed by said wall, there being a plurality of fingers carried by said wall and shiftable with respect thereto into overlying relationship with corresponding orifices.
 2. An oil flow suppression attachment as set forth in claim 1, said flange and said wall cooperating with said upper surface to retain oil delivered into said area within the confines of said frame.
 3. An oil flow suppression attachment as set forth in claim 2, said frame having a front wall, a rear wall and a pair of opposed end walls, said walls cooperating to completely circumscribe the area of the upper surface of the head normally within said valve cover.
 4. An oil flow suppression attachment as set forth in claim 2, said front and rear walls being shiftable with respect to one another.
 5. An oil flow suppression attachment as set forth in claim 4, said end walls being shiftable with respect to one another.
 6. An oil flow suppression attachment as set forth in claim 5, said fingers being carried by said rear wall and extending toward said front wall.
 7. An oil flow suppression attachment as set forth in claim 6, said fingers being inclined downwardly from said rear wall toward said front wall.
 8. An oil flow suppression attachment as set forth in claim 7, there being sealing means positioned between said base flange and the upper surface of the head. 